ARADIA: karkat go back to holding your breath!ARADIA: this is going to be a wonderful adventure for everyoneARADIA: im a bit jealous honestly!ARADIA: or i would be if i wasnt having such a good time with my death fangirl thing :pKANAYA: SoKANAYA: You Arent Coming ThenARADIA: noARADIA: i still have important work to do hereTEREZI: 4WW >:[ARADIA: but that doesnt rule out the possibility we could meet again in bubbles along your journey!TEREZI: 1 HOP3 SOSOLLUX: yeah, i think i'll hang behind here t0o, if that's 0k with you guys.KARKAT: WAIT, WHAT?KARKAT: NO COME ON, DON'T BE LIKE THATSOLLUX: be like what? a ghost??SOLLUX: i d0n't think i belong with the living anym0re.KARKAT: YOU'RE A *HALF* GHOST, ASSHOLE.KARKAT: WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN? HOW ARE YOU EVEN TAKING THIS IDIOTIC "HALF DEATH" SERIOUSLY IF YOU JUST GO HOG WILD AS A FUCKING WHOLE-GHOST, AND SAY STUPID SHIT LIKE, BLAH BLAH, I BELONG IN THE AFTERLIFE NOW LIKE A DUMBASS.SOLLUX: kk, SORRY.SOLLUX: i'm just d0ne with this crap, this insane adventure bullshit, it's nothing pers0nal.SOLLUX: i just want to spend time with aa and chill 0ut and catch up with some 0f our dead buddies, is that 0k?KARKAT: WHATEVER, FINE.KARKAT: I'M GOING BACK TO NOT BREATHING AGAIN.KARKAT: HHHHHHHHHHHHUUUUP.............KANAYA: Maybe I Will Stay Here TooROSE: Why?KANAYA: As Nice As It Sounds To Move OnKANAYA: I Dont Know If I Can Stand Three Of Your Human Years Of More DarknessKANAYA: I Like This Sun Its Comforting In A Strange WayKANAYA: Like HomeROSE: But what if we need your help?KANAYA: What Could I Possibly DoKANAYA: Aside From Providing A Light Source As You Navigate The Dim CorridorsKANAYA: I Would Function As A Premium Escort To The Load Gaper And Thats About ItARADIA: but kanaya you still have important work to finish too!ARADIA: we cant ignore our dutiesKANAYA: What Are You Talking AboutARADIA: our race is extinct rememberARADIA: and after a few more casualties it is now hanging by a threadARADIA: your job was to see to the resurrection of our peopleKANAYA: What Real Hope Is There For ThatKANAYA: The Orb Was DestroyedKANAYA: I Was Never Able To Duplicate It The Grist Cost Was AstronomicalARADIA: theres always hope though!ARADIA: you just never know and i dont think you should give upKANAYA: Doesnt Rose KnowKANAYA: Cant You See The Path To Victory On This MatterROSE: It's hard to say.ROSE: Does the repopulation of your species qualify as victory?ROSE: These things aren't always clear cut. Some outcomes are for your own judgment.ROSE: What outcome would you like the most?KANAYA: I Would Like To Have The Orb Again And To Keep It Safe This TimeKANAYA: And I Guess To Not Be A Total FailureROSE: Ok.ROSE: If you follow my advice, I can at least promise you will find yourself in the best position to determine whether that may come to pass.KANAYA: ...ROSE: Can you please come?ROSE: Between the two of us, you with your inexplicably heretofore unmentioned phosphorescence, and I with my nigh-reflective traffic cone orange sun-sari, the meteor should never be too dark.KARKAT: (sollux, oh my god is it me or is everybody already just fucking hitting on each other left and right? oh god i can't take sweeps of this shit, don't leave me alone here, please don't)SOLLUX: ehehehehe.KANAYA: WellKANAYA: All RightKANAYA: But Must We Really Leave So SoonROSE: It's soon or never. But not immediately.ROSE: Even if the route were accessible right now, it would still behoove us to wait.ROSE: There's correspondence from John yet to arrive.DAVE: whoa reallyROSE: And after that, we have to wait for one final guest to appear.ROSE: Then we ride like the solar wind. The race will be afoot.KANAYA: Wait Another VisitorKANAYA: WhoKARKAT: FUCK!ROSE: Oh lord.ROSE: Now what?KARKAT: BRO, WHERE THE FUCK IS YOUR BODY

That was the last update for a good while. I'll say more about the pause soon.

The flash: song was an old and good one by Malcolm Brown, whose name I'd hope you would be familiar with by now. Art contributed by Adrienne, Ikimaru, Guzusuru, Shelby, and Rah. Great to work with all these people again. As has always been the case, the enthusiasm for the story by all contributors really shows in the work they do, and makes the final animation result feel a lot more special than it otherwise would be. A big thanks to all these artists, along with anyone else who ever left their artistic mark on this story.

9828 had a song and a drawing by James Roach and Ipgd respectively. Whoa, those are respectively very very good. The doomsday screed is by this son of a bozo, and it does appear to have motivated quite a STRONG wave of selfie posting. Maybe enough to even save the website from old man Hussie? Guess we'll find out. Hmm, sure does seem like Homestuck has a lot of good lookin' readers. I must say I am impressed. I have taken quite an extensive tour through your offerings and I have yet to find an unattractive face in front of Arquiusprite's tremendous buttocks. Kudos to every single selfie-snapper for being so preposterously photogenic. Just, wow. People have got a couple tumblrarchives already if you want to take a look. I don't know which of those is "better," or more exhaustive, but you know what, a little competition never killed anybody. I guess they can be like the Coke and Pepsi of this baloney ass stunt, for as long as people wanna keep pointing phones at their own faces.

Starting now, We Love Fine will become the primary seller of Homestuck products. Almost everything from the What Pumpkin store will be gradually moved over to the We Love Fine store over the next few weeks. We're also working on a lot of cool new things, which will show up in the WLF store over the following months.

WLF is also running another shirt design contest this month. There were a whole lot of great entries last time, and many of them ended up getting printed. Maybe YOU have a cool idea for a shirt this time around?? I would like to see it!

In closing, I will say this. We Love Fine is a great company! I've worked with them for a couple years already. The people there are VERY enthusiastic about making great stuff for fandoms. Take a look around their site. There's a good chance you will see stuff for other properties you like as well. I'm looking forward to seeing what else they're going to make for Homestuck!